The Iron Curtain (1948) User Reviews

Communist spy film based on a true story

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 17 August 2007]

Dana Andrews is Igor Gouzenko, a Russian spy in Canada in "The Iron Curtain," a 1948 film based on a true story. Andrews plays a Russian during and after World War II who is sent to work as a code clerk for a ring in Canada; once the bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, the Communists become particularly interested in documents pertaining to it. Eventually his wife (Gene Tierney) joins him and tells him that she is pregnant. With the birth of his son, and the disillusionment of one of the ring (Eduard Franz), whose father was a great leader, Gouzenko slowly begins to realize that he's on the wrong side and decides that he and his family will not return to Russia. He steals important documents from his office with the idea of handing them over to the Department of Justice before his bosses realize what has happened, but fate plays against him. It becomes a race against time to get the documents into the right hands as well as save his family, even if he can't save himself.

Done in semi-documentary style, this is a pretty good propaganda drama with fine performances from an always attractive couple, Andrews and Tierney, and a great performance by Eduard Franz in a showy role. Andrews is one of the few leading men under contract at 20th Century Fox who was served well, particularly once Fox's biggest star, Tyrone Power, went to war; the hard-bitten roles Andrews played in many film noirs have given him a place in film history. Like both Power and John Payne, he was versatile, appearing in every type of film. Not realizing he was trained as an opera singer, the studio dubbed him in "State Fair" - they'd thrown so many non-singers into musicals, it never occurred to them he actually might be one. Alcoholism cut his star years short though he continued to work and speak on behalf of facing up to alcoholism. Tierney's career had its ups and downs due to her personal life as well, but in three films, they made a wonderful couple.

Toward the end, "The Iron Curtain" becomes quite intense and exciting. Well directed by William Wellman, it's worth watching though some may not like its definite propaganda bent.

From Settin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "Iron Curtain" has descended across the continent

[sol1218 · 7/10 · 26 May 2007]

One of the more realistic as well as honest post WWII movies about the threat of Communism simply because it was based on a true story. The film supports the well worn notion of truth being stranger then fiction.

Setting up a number of sleeper cells at the hight of WWII in and around the Canadian City of Ottawa the Soviet Union has developed a spying apparatus that's soon to became the biggest foreign spying network in all of North America. With the head spy a Canadian Communist named John Grubb, Barry Kroeger, having a number of his team of Soviet agents in the Atomic Research Division of the Canadian Government. Glubb and his boss' back in Moscow got wind of a secret project that the US was developing in the use of atomic energy to harness and create an nuclear chain reaction, an Atomic Bomb, that will eventually be use against the axis to end the Second World War.

The movie "The Iron Curtain" has to do with Soviet cypher clerk Igor Gouzenka, Dana Andrews, who being station in Ottawa becomes very disenchanted with his country of birth, the Soviet Union, and decides to defect. Igor is hampered with the fact that he has family back in the USSR and a wife and young child Anna & Andrei, Gene Tierney & Robin Olsen, here in Canada where goons from the Soviet NKVD, working for the Soviet Embassy, can easily get their hands on them. We see Igor go through a number of stages during his stay in Canada as he soon realizes what he's missing in not living in a free country and just how hellish his home the USSR really is.

Being a good soldier, or cypher clerk, Igor does his work smoothly and without a flaw until his wife Anna ,who with Soviet Government approval, came over to visit him from the USSR and later gets pregnant with his son. All this changes Igor's feelings about his motherland, Mother Russia, in wanting his son young Andrei to live and grow up free in a free land Canada. What really pushes Igor over the line, and gets him and his wife and son to defect, is when he gets to see his best friend Maj. Semyon Kulin, Eduard Franz, crack up while gulping down a bottle of vodka and spilling his guts out. Maj. Kulin is sorry that he ever got involved with the Bolshevik/Communist regime. Knowing now just how evil it is in it doing in Kulin's his old man a great and proud leader of the 1917 Communist, or October, Revolution has driving him to drink. They, or Uncle Joe Stalin and his gang of murderous cutthroats, felt that Kulin's father was no longer useful to them and their cause in taking over, by extreme and brutal force if necessary, the both civilized and uncivilized world and thus kicked him out of power. The old and sick guy is now left to live on his meager pension in a one room walk-up, with pop suffering from a case of sever arthritis, apartment in Moscow.

It took a lot for Igor to do what he did in going over to the other side and not only revealing what he and his cohorts, both Russian and Canadians, were up to. Igor also stole from the Soviet Embassy over 100 pages of documents revealing the Soviets plan to steal the secret of the Atomic Bomb that Igor was terrified that they, the Stalin gangsters, would use to blackmail and thus take over, by hook or by crook, the free and none-Communist world.

Igor gets away from the Soviet Secret Police, the dreaded NKVD, only because their so clumsy and confused in operating in a free, unlike their home turf the USSR, and open society. Igor then had, after almost being handed over to his countrymen by a bunch of brainless and clueless Canadian bureaucrats, himself and his wife and son, Anna & Andrei,given political asylum. Igor Gouzenka died in his adopted country Canada on June 28, 1982 at the age of 63.

The vengeful Soviet Union who had put a price on his head and had dozens of secret agents looking to both find and do Igor in had him wearing a musty and smelly hood over his head in public to keep from being recognized and assassinated. This was a small price for Igor to pay to be a free man in a free land which he wasn't back home in the USSR.

P.S The famous statement "Iron Curtain" that's been attributed to Winston Churchills speech in Fulton Missouri on March 5, 1946 was actually coined by non-other then Nazi Propaganda and Culture Minister Dr. Joesph Goebbels a year earlier in an article that he wrote for the German newspaper Das Reich. Goebbels statement was broadcast by the British BBC, on Feberuary 25, 1945 in the waning weeks of the Second World War in Europe. A broadcast that Churchill obviously heard and later used Goebbels timely phrase "Eis Erner Vorhang", the Iron Curtain in German, in his Fulton speech.

Canadian Espionage Story Brought to the Screen

[barryrd · 7/10 · 20 April 2014]

In reviewing this movie, I have to admit my personal bias as a Canadian living in Ottawa where the movie was shot. I had seen it many years ago and liked it so I was excited when it was shown on TCM on Easter eve. I had forgotten many of the scenes, although I know the story well. I appreciated the crisp cutaway shots of Ottawa with Gothic public buildings and brick houses shown against the stark winter backgrounds. I also liked the way the movie was shot in darkness and shadows evoking the Cold War atmosphere. Director Wm. Wellman got the details correct with his script and the visual references to Ottawa landmarks. The Justice Building is the actual Confederation Building still used by the Dept.of Justice. The railway shown running along the Rideau Canal is no longer there but that was the location used by trains in and out of Union Station in downtown Ottawa. The actual apartment where Gouzenko lived is shown. It still stands along with the park across the street where there is signage indicating the historical significance of the site nearby. We also see Somerset St. with a streetcar passing the building where he resided. The Parliament Buildings, the Château Laurier and the National Research Council are all shown and all were pivotal locations for the story. There is a reference to the child of Igor and Anna Gouzenko born at St. Vincent's Hospital, which still stands in the neighbourhood where Gouzenko lived. I like the documentary style also used effectively in other films from that era, such as The House on 92nd Street, Naked City and the Wrong Man. The film noir look is typical of the era and suits the espionage story. Where the movie falls short, however, is in the characters of Igor and Anna Gouzenko as performed by Dana Andrews and Jean Tierney. I can certainly respect the choice of two accomplished actors for the roles; however, these Hollywood icons are a stretch for the Russian couple in the story, especially for a movie that pays such close attention to other details. Nevertheless, I can see that two acting stars would attract attention to the movie and the story. For example, a Cold War museum outside Ottawa, built as a bunker for government leaders in the 1950's, features photos from the movie to highlight the story. As someone with a passion for Canadian history and movies, I have great affection for The Iron Curtain. I was very grateful for TCM bringing this little known movie to its viewers.

Intense Spy History,best because it really happened

[newospar · 29 May 2003]

This little cold war story tells the tale of an ordinary man caught up in the intrigue of the atomic spy scandal of the 1940's in Canada. Working as a code clerk in the Soviet embassy in Canada Igor Gouzenko learns that atomic secrets are being forwarded to Stalin through his office. The problem for the Soviet Union is that while in Canada Gouzenko begins to realize that the government he works for and fought for is more of a threat to its people than a protector. He also realizes that the Canadians around him are decent people and no threat to his people. Then the action begins, he steals copies of the information being stolen and tries to go to the Canadian Government and press and gets nowhere. Finally, when the NKVD police from the embassy show up at his apartment and they cause such a ruckus the neighbors call the local Canadian Police the nature of the documents are revealed. One of those immortal lines is uttered by the Cop when told the papers are property of the Soviet Union;"All Stolen Property must be Identified at the Police Station". This is followed by a look by the Cop equivilent to "Go ahead,Make my day". Some might try to say this film is an anachronism and too "hawkish" but the facts are true and the fall of the Soviet Union has backed it up. The acting is by a group of "journeymen and women",the direction is as simple as that of "The Longest Day",to tell an incredible tale that no fiction writer could dream up.

Conduit for top secret information defects

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 19 April 2014]

The embellished story of Soviet defector Igor Gouzenko is told here in the documentary style that 20th Century Fox popularized in the post World War II period with such other films as The House On 92nd Street, The Street With No Name and 13 Rue Madeleine. Gouzenko is played here in tightlipped fashion for an uptight man by Dana Andrews with Mrs. Gouzenko played by frequent Andrews co-star Gene Tierney.

Gouzenko was a security code clerk at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa and was an important conduit for top secret information both in and out of official diplomatic channels. During the Cold War it was a standard practice for the Soviets to use their embassies as places of espionage as well as diplomacy as did we. But this started during World War II when both sides were ostensibly allies.

Canada had its own role in World War II as an ally, an important supplier of troops and even more important guardian of the North Atlantic sea lanes for supplies. Their scientists worked on the Manhattan Project and the development of a super weapon certainly piqued Soviet interest. Just what were allies America and the United Kingdom working on?

When we meet Gouzenko he's a pretty firm true believer in the evangelizing mission of the Soviet state. But what was presented satirically in films like Ninotchka and Comrade X is done seriously here. The material prosperity of the west is something Andrews pretends not to notice, but Tierney isn't quite as self controlled.

The friendliness of neighbor Edna Best to Tierney and her infant son proves to be invaluable in the end. No wonder the Soviets tell Andrews to stand aloof from the ordinary Canadians. Random acts of kindness can sometimes really pay off.

A good cast of villainous types play various Soviet embassy and intelligence officials. Two should be singled out, a female seductress played by June Havoc who tests Andrews discretion and loyalty and comes up short. And Eduard Franz who plays another embassy official who becomes disillusioned with Communism and isn't so discreet about it.

For a Cold War era anti-Communist film, The Iron Curtain holds up well over 60 years later. How convenient of Winston Churchill to provide a title for this film with a famous speech in 1948.

Spy story in documentary style stars Andrews and Tierney...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 23 August 2007]

Fox was doing several spy documentaries in the '40s in the style of 13 RUE MADELEINE and THE HOUSE ON 92nd STREET, and this is one of their less melodramatic stories of espionage performed in low-key style by DANA ANDREWS and GENE TIERNEY.

Andrews is Igor Gouzenko, a Russian who is part of a Canadian spy ring. He has a taste of freedom when he lives in Canada and decides to defect with his wife and young son, but not before taking classified documents with him which he intends to hand over to the authorities.

Director William A. Wellman gets just a moderate amount of suspense out of the true life story, deciding not to go for melodramatics but having the whole story played out in low-key style befitting a documentary type of film. There's even some narration to frame the story.

Andrews gives a decent performance, tight-lipped and determined to leave his Russian heritage behind and find freedom in Canada under the protection of the Royal Canadian police. Tierney gives one of her more sincere performances as the wife, concerned for the welfare of her child and his right to grow up under democracy's freedom.

A bit too much propaganda but nicely photographed and played by a competent cast, including EDUARD FRANZ in a rather showier role. Lacks the dramatic power it might have had if a more melodramatic approach had been used.

Dana Andrews/Noirish Cold War

[TheFearmakers · 7/10 · 4 June 2022]

Wedged between the famous Otto Preminger Film Noir LAURA and WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS and almost a decade past TOBACCO ROAD is the sublime pair-up of Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney under the direction of William A. Wellman in a Cold War Thriller at the rudimentary stages of that very thing: the movie takes place during and right after WWII and was released only three years after the war ended...

Based on the true story of "Soviet cypher-clerk Igor Gouzenko who was posted to the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, Canada in 1943... to reveal the extent of Soviet espionage activities directed against Canada," Dana Andrews takes a sort of reverse risk since nothing's worse than an American actor caught doing a bad-hammy foreign accent, especially one as thick as Russian... And so, Dana basically speaks exactly like Dana. Meanwhile, Tierney slips in a very subtle accent and either way, both do a good enough job, making an otherwise passable programmer worth viewing: Although the real scene-stealer is Texas-born Berry Kroeger as "Paul," taking that risk and succeeding with flying colors, seeming and sounding like a Russian Orson Welles type of classy, distinguished yet nefarious thug with a scowl that's genuine, menacing and lethal...

He's the person to truly fear, for both the audience and our hero, who will eventually attempt to defect with information about Canadian spies for the Soviets. "Paul" also keeps a narrowed eye on those spies who might have lost their tight grip on the dream of communism. Berry's scenes without either Dana or Gene are beyond-effective, and provide a dark Noirish vibe when needed - as does the initial setup concerning Andrews when Russian Femme Fatale-like secretary June Havoc tests his loyalty with vodka and attempted passion.

The suspense that's supposed to occur as Andrews and Tierney, with their newborn baby in her arms and secret documents stuffed into his clothing, just isn't there as he tries locating any form of authority willing to listen to what seems like a nutcase conspiracy involving the Russian Embassy. Before that, Igor's transition is much too quick and easy; after listening to quirky, vulnerable comrade Stefan Schnabel's drunken speech against their country, he's converted as a loyal Canadian with defecting on the brain. During his most effect scenes, Dana remains the most square-jawed as a true Russian who believes in something that we, and not yet he, know will eventually change.

Well done spy story...

[arturus · 6/10 · 1 June 2007]

...done in the "documentary" style then used by Fox, even using the same narrator used in other, similar pictures, such as "The House on 92nd Street" from a few years earlier.

This picture shows much effort and talent, but somehow it doesn't quite come off, perhaps because it was clearly approached as a propaganda film, almost shrill in its pro-Western slant, just as the Cold War was beginning.

What I noticed most about the picture was its artful and effective use of music by Soviet composers, without crediting them except in the dialogue. As a musician I am shocked and appalled to learn that these composers' music was used without their permission. The Fifth Symphony of Prokofiev, which is quoted extensively, had only been given its Western premiere a few years before this picture was released, and was then given a landmark 1945 recording, by Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony, for Victor Records. Using the music of these composers without their knowledge or permission is like stealing!

I don't understand how a serious musician like Alfred Newman could have been party to this. Perhaps he thought he was making a patriotic, pro-Western statement, but as an artist he should have known how these composers would feel.

Iron Curtain Rates ****

[edwagreen · 9/10 · 25 May 2007]

Excellent film dealing with Soviet spies operating in Canada during World War 11 and afterward.

The spying was done out of the Soviet embassy in Canada. There were plenty of non-Canadians involved in the spy ring as well.

This film was a true story. Dana Andrews gives a subdued performance as a Soviet decoder who comes to appreciate democracy. He is soon joined in Canada by his wife who is played by Gene Tierney. She brings a simplicity to the role as the Soviet wife who also comes to respect a democratic way of life.

There is an excellent performance by Eduard Franz, who plays an disenchanted alcoholic Soviet official, whose disdain for Soviet life will lead him back to the Soviet Union.

The film is exciting since it shows how no one wanted to listen to Andrews unraveling of the spy ring.

"This is the most secret project in history"

[ackstasis · 6/10 · 8 February 2010]

Who doesn't love a good piece of anti-Communist propaganda? Admittedly, 'The Iron Curtain (1948)' is a rather average example of the art-form {with Sam Fuller's 'Pickup on South Street (1953)' being the best} but at least Wellman's film is given a boost by the winning combination of Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney… the latter of whom being the main reason that I watched this film. Another reason to watch 'The Iron Curtain' is its magnificent soundtrack, plundered from the repertoires of Russian composers Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Aram Khachaturyan and Dominik Miskovský (each of whom ran into political turmoil back home for their perceived collaboration on a Hollywood picture). The music is unique to 1940s cinema, suggesting a grandeur that, back then, could only be found in the cinematic scores of Hungarian-born Miklós Rózsa. This sense of grandness is crippled somewhat by the film's documentary-like approach.

'The Iron Curtain' was based on the true story of Igor Gouzenko, a Russian cipher clerk living in Canada with his wife and child. When Gouzenko defected in 1945, he exposed Stalin's efforts to steal the Allies' nuclear secrets, even while WWII was still raging. Like most Cold War films, this one starts off a little slow, utilising plenty of furtive glances and lengthy silences, but the suspense really kicks in when Gouzenko steals classified Soviet documents and tries to find somebody who'll take them. Dana Andrews, one of the most underrated leading man of the 1940s, brings a tired determination to the film's final gripping moments, as he pleads with a Canadian Mountie to protect him. Gene Tierney, looking as lovely as ever, is still denied the emotional depth of her role in 'Laura (1944)' {in which she and Andrews had previously starred}, but otherwise performs well.

Not the best move for Dana

[HotToastyRag · 5/10 · 13 August 2021]

In the fourth of fifth pairing between Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney, Iron Curtain gives viewers some clue as to the subject of the film. It's one of those "don't let the Commies get the better of you" movies that were popular at that time in old Hollywood. If you don't like those movies, you won't like this one. Not even Dana Andrews can save it, and I don't think he should have even taken this part.

Dana plays a code cracker who works at the Russian embassy in Canada. He's a very good, loyal employee - but if he's good and loyal to Russia, doesn't that put a bad taste in audiences' mouths? If his career had died immediately after this movie, I wouldn't have been surprised; but thankfully, he kept making classics like My Foolish Heart and Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Dana's not only loyal to his job and his country, he's also loyal to his wife, Gene Tierney. It's very cute to see them married - in fact, this is the only movie in which they play husband and wife! As always, they have great chemistry together, and you hope that everything works out for them. Since this isn't my genre of choice, it wasn't my favorite flick. But you're welcome to check it out if you do.

Fascinating true spy story, the Gouzenko Defection

[robert-temple-1 · 8/10 · 10 March 2009]

The defection of Igor Gouzenko from the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, in 1946, was one of the most electrifying events of the Cold War. The documents and information which he brought with him, gained from his work as a top-secret cipher clerk, resulted in the destruction of the main Soviet spy ring in Canada, which included a Member of Parliament and a nuclear scientist who was working on the atomic bomb. This film, with all the locations shot in Ottawa, and its details drawn from the official reports of a Royal Commission, is a fascinating depiction of the true story of Gouzenko from the moment of his arrival in Canada, his first time outside the Soviet Union, till his defection with his wife and child. William Wellmann directed the film in a low-key style, with some documentary linking narration from time to time. Dana Andrews was never so subdued and soft-spoken as Gouzenko in this film, and Gene Tierney is remarkably self-effacing as the devoted wife and mother of an infant. She has no particularly interesting scenes. The really powerful performances in this film are by Berry Kroeger, in his first film appearance, as an insidious, swaggering and menacing mastermind of a Soviet espionage ring, and Eduard Franz as a Soviet major who 'just cannot take it any more' and turns into a drunk. The film is tense and gripping, and follows closely the real life events of this notorious story. June Havoc is effective in a minor role as the resident Soviet honeypot who tests the new staff with alcohol and seduction to see if they are indiscreet. The world inside the Soviet Embassy is convincingly and eerily depicted, a demi-monde and a half-life of people serving Stalin and the Party like grim automatons with dark faces and all humanity stripped out of them. This film gives a nice lesson in the realities of sordid power, and the hollowness of institutionalised betrayal. There are none so low as those who slither.

Depicting a particular time what could have been

[jordondave-28085 · 7/10 · 19 April 2023]

(1948) The Iron Curtain POLITICAL ESPIONAGE/ SUSPENSE

Based on historical fact, the first of four movies (according to imdb.com- two theatrical movies and two made for TV movies) about a Russian defector by the name of Igor Gouzenko who was sent to Canada from Russia for the intention of exploiting hospitality of Canadians by transporting top secret information for a possible Russian takeover. The Russian Embassy located in Ottawa at one time or another used to be used as a front for false pretenses during the early 1940's for the purpose of obtaining information from both Canada and the United States of America to be sent to Russia for the makings of an atomic bomb. Dana Andrews plays Igor and started to defect Russian orders as soon as his wife, Anna (Gene Tierney) came to live with him as well as getting his first born son as he started to be comfortable with the living conditions Canada were to offer. At the opening, is an important footnote, and I must admit that the first hour was very boring since it's shown in documentation style- for it's like watching a very long introduction where the movie states the situation. Besides that, viewers would also have to get used to the idea of Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney playing a Russian couple that to some they may not sound Russian but can convince viewers that they are acting like them. And if you can make it past the first hour which can be a drab experience than you might be able to enjoy the last final 30 minutes, as it was about that time is when the 'suspense' finally start to kick in. The only thing this film has going for it is that it's based on fact meaning that if it was like made up, it probably wouldn't even be worth acknowledging. Besides what I mentioned above, it is also worth pointing out that "The Iron Curtain" is the fourth of five films Dana Andrews made with Gene Tierney. The other 4 are "Tobacco Road", "Belle Starr", "Laura" and "Where The Sidewalk Ends".

Reds Story

[EdgarST · 4/10 · 15 May 2015]

Not a very good film, to be honest... For your pleasure it is a propaganda film, if you enjoy that or double standard. Due to its origin, it is full of "patriotic" speeches disguised as dialogues, exaltation of the American notion of democracy, dark portraits of Soviets' Western allies, warnings of the "Red Menace" that sound insolent when you see how light-heartedly the H-bombing of Japan is assumed, and so on... William Wellman directs all the tension-filled action with his usual skill, and actors are rather restrained in their Soviet portraits, but in the end not even the self-righteousness of the project can hide its true political agenda.

Cold War Stereotypes

[dougdoepke · 9 November 2014]

Clearly, this was a TCF prestige production. Impresario Sol Siegel produced, auteur William Wellman directed, popular leads Andrews and Crain starred, while Canadian locations were as accurate as possible. Based on a true story of Soviet espionage, the framing lends genuine authenticity. Not too much exciting happens until the last 20-minutes, when defector Gouzenko tries to get skeptical Canadian authorities to believe his story. That must have been hair-raising, his life on the line.

But make no mistake, the narrative is turned into propaganda, sometimes crude, sometimes slick. It's not a question of basic facts. Those I take to be true. Instead, it's a question of stagecraft, namely, how the facts are presented. In short, it's not the 'what' but the 'how'. Note how Soviet officials are presented by the movie makers. How they apparently hate full light— seemingly only to exist in noirish shadow; how they never smile, apparently having no inner feelings; how they only speak in a mechanical manner, apparently having no thoughts of their own; and how they apparently don't love their wives, Gouzenko's fidelity marking him as a potential defector. Indeed, this is Hollywood's attempt to turn on a dime, yesterday's ally becoming today's enemy. In short, TCF had to take up the Cold War too, of which this film was a key entry.

Speaking of spying on allies, we might ask Germany's current chancellor Angela Merkel how she likes having her phones bugged by our own NSA. Understandably, it created quite a diplomatic stir (Google 'merkel and spying'). My point is not to defend the Soviets specifically. Rather, it is to point out an important part of cinematic propaganda. Namely, that it's not sufficient to present the basic facts, as some folks believe; it's also how those facts are presented, and here the manner is clearly propagandistic. Soviet stereotypes are created that would endure. My larger point is to beware of any effort to de-humanize an enemy no matter how detestable they may seem. For such an effort can also be turned around on us.

The Iron Curtain

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 5 January 2023]

Dana Andrews is Igor Gouzenko, posted to the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa as a cypher clerk. He has no difficulty with his orders to keep himself to himself and to be polite but distant from his Canadian hosts. This becomes more problematic when he is joined by his wife Anna (Gene Tierney) who has more difficulty with the isolation their existence brings; particularly when they have a son so shorty after the end of the War, he decides that the grand design being proposed by his superiors is not for him, or his family, so decides to amass a collection of crucial documents from his legation and defect - illuminating a complex network of secret Soviet activities that penetrate to the heart of the Canadian military and political systems. His problem is - who is going to believe him; and can he ensure everyone's safety while he tries to persuade the authorities that he is for real. Based on true events, it's quite a poignant reminder of just how pivotal Canada was during and immediately after the war in terms of it's own significant scientific input and as an intermediary between the USA and the UK. Dana Andrews deals with his character's crisis of conscience quite well, and Tierney brings a sort of innocence to the proceedings that motivates his decision. I found the G-man style narration from Charles Tannen a bit over the top, and the dialogue and generally lacklustre direction left too much of the peril of the scenario to our imagination. Still, it's quite enthralling at times and the tightly knit cast keep it interesting for 90 minutes.

A true story, well worth watching

[PaulusLoZebra · 6/10 · 22 July 2023]

Some viewers consider William Wellman's The Iron Curtain to be an early anti-Communist propapganda film. It is definitely anti-Russian Communist, but it should not be labelled as propaganda because it is a true story and accurate in its details, so much so that Wellman filmed it in a semi-documentary style. The villians in this film are all very well acted. Dana Andrews is a bit wooden and Gene Tierney doesn't have much to do, but we do feel their basic goodness, her warmth, and his ramrod-straight sense of duty, all important elements for the denouement of the story. It was a nice treat that all the outdoor shots were done in Ottawa in the places where the story actually happened.

Better Than Average Spy Thriller - The Iron Curtain

[arthur_tafero · 6/10 · 10 January 2021]

Yes, there are stereotypes in the film (Boris Bedinoff of Rocky would be one), and the performance of Dana Andrews is intentionally wooden at times, but that was what a Russian official was mostly likely to be. Based on a true story, A Russian official tries to save his wife and child from a miserable life in Russia by making a rash decision to turn over key papers to the Canadian authorities. The buildup is very good and everything is believable except for the fact that he is not killed by his comrades. If it weren't a true story, I wouldn't have believed the plot. Fun to watch.

Not Propaganda Because It is True

[rsternesq · 10/10 · 2 August 2010]

One has to wonder whether anyone cares what words mean. Hey folks, this is a true story told in a deliberately understated way to avoid sensationalizing the subject, which was plenty exciting enough. Anyone who thinks it is propaganda either doesn't know what the word means or doesn't realize what is really going on and has been going on for some several hundred years now. Simply stated, there are a very few places in this world where people have achieved a measure of freedom and relative comfort. That is the exception. The rest of the world is a place with far less comfort and freedom. In 1945 and in 2010 there are plenty of bad guys who would like to do harm and once in a while someone upsets their plan. That is a good thing and telling us about it is a good thing. It isn't propaganda. It is our history.

OUTSTANDING! True Story Shot On Real Locations

[hines-2000 · 10/10 · 10 April 2021]

William A. Wellman superbly directs The Iron Curtain which is the most realistic film depicting the despotic morbidness of communism. This early Cold War thriller is well documented and shot in real locations in Canada. The story centers around Dana Andrews (Igor Gouzenko) a cipher clerk freshly assigned to the Soviet embassy in Canada. He is increasingly troubled by his work for duplicitous Soviet officials. He is tested early by Secretary Nina Karanova (June Havoc) who tries to seduce him, but Gouzenko keenly contemplates the scheme by his communist handlers. Karanova is disconcerted again as his wife joins him. None other than Gene Tierney (Anna Gouzenko) gives an outstanding performance as a wife then mother who is effectuating a painful epiphany to Karanova. Berry Kroeger (John Grubb, aka 'Paul'), masterfully protrays a menacing Soviet vassal masterminding the spy network. Also a noteworthy performance by Eduard Franz (Major Kulin), whose contempt for the oppressors is unmasked by his alcohol consumption. The remainder of the cast was superb including Edna Best (Mrs. Foster), Stefan Schnabel (Ranov), Mauritz Hugo (Leonard Laetz), Leslie Barrie (Editor), Nicholas Joy (Dr. Norman), Frederic Tozere (Col. Trigorin), and Victor Wood (Captain Class).

Cold War is born with unmasking of Soviet spy ring in Canada

[SimonJack · 9/10 · 26 May 2016]

For all of the spy and espionage thrillers that have been made into movies, people today may be surprised to learn how old the American secret service is – or rather, how young it is. The CIA is the youngest of all the intelligence agencies of NATO nations. It wasn't formed until late 1947. Yet more movies since the last half of the 20th century have been made about or with CIA involvement in the stories than about any other intelligence organization or other government group. Right behind the CIA, with nearly as many movie numbers is the CIA's elder cousin, MI6 of Great Britain.

Still, secret intelligence of the espionage type must have been an anathema to North Americans even through two world wars. That point springs from the details of the major Soviet Union espionage scandal that shocked Canada, the U.S. and the rest of the world in 1946. Even growing up during and after World War II, I don't recall ever having heard it being discussed or written about soon thereafter. I do recall watching a TV game show in the mid-1950s in which I first heard the name Gouzenko. But I didn't know about this movie until recent years.

"The Iron Curtain" was made in 1948. It is the true story, based on the actual events, that led to the world's discovery of the covert espionage activities of the Soviet Union. It was this discovery that some sources label as the beginning of the Cold War according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Yet, it may never have been known for years or decades to come had it not been for one person – Igor Gouzenko. This movie is his story, from the time he arrived in Canada from Moscow in early 1943 until he defected in Ottawa on Sept. 5, 1945. Gouzenko was a cipher clerk who was loyal to the U.S.S.R. until that time. His wife had arrived from Moscow to join him and their first child was soon born. When he was due to be sent back to Moscow, he decided to defect and take secret espionage files with him.

The movie shows how harrowing was his move because of the reluctance of Canadian government offices to believe him, or even to show interest. He even went to a major newspaper and was turned away. How he came to be successful almost seems like a fairy tale. But this is the story on film.

Dana Andrews plays Gouzenko superbly. Gene Tierney is his wife, Anna (Svetlana). The supporting cast are all very good in the roles of the top Soviet embassy officials and Canadian Communist party spies. These included Col. Ilya Ranov, head of the Soviet Secret Police (later KGB); Col. Aleksandr Trigorin, chief Soviet military attache; Maj. Semyon Kulin, his deputy; John Grubb (aka "Paul") who established the Canadian Communist Party in 1920 and headed it's espionage activities.

While the Soviet embassy officials couldn't be prosecuted, some 39 other civilians and military in government jobs were brought to trial, and 20 convicted of sentences from five years to life in prison. Gouzenko and his family were hidden and protected by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and later were settled in a home with new identities in a Toronto suburb. He later wrote two books and appeared on TV shows with his head hooded to preserve his identity. He died in 1982 and Svetlana died in 2001. In 2003 Ottawa erected a memorial and in 2004 the Canadian government erected a memorial plaque.

Some of the names and details in this film have been changed, but it mostly is an accurate portrayal of Gouzenko and his defection. The film appears dark and somber throughout. It was made in black and white and reflects the conditions under which Gouzenko worked and lived at the time. The movie was shot in the actual locales, and the prologue on the film states that all the documents in the film were the authentic items form the real event.

While this film could hardly be considered entertaining, it surely is interesting. It provides a good look at the serious espionage activities of the world's largest Communist power and its threat to democracy and peace.

On his arrival in Ottawa in 1943, Gouzenko was grilled by the Soviet Secret Police chief, to test his phony credentials. His opening statement is an example of the indoctrination that the Soviets put their own people through. It's a fitting way to end my comments.

Gouzenko, "I am now in a foreign country and must always be alert against enemies. I must be careful of all manner of acquaintanceship. I must not engage in cordial conversation with any foreigner whatsoever. Never borrow money from a foreigner. In my apartment, I must be respectful to neighbors but make no friends. I must never permit myself to be more drunk than either my guests or my host. A sober brain, a firm tongue, and alertness. These things must always be with me when I'm with foreigners."

Why Democracy is Soul-Craft

[inspectors71 · 8/10 · 20 January 2016]

There's a moment in William Wellman's Anti-Communist propaganda film that captured why The Iron Curtain is on the same level as another great Canadian film, The 49th Parallel. In short order, Soviet officer Dana Andrews, a military cypher for the USSR in Ottawa at the end of WWII, has seen a compatriot threatened with being sent back to Russia, and the fellow officer drunkenly comments on how awful it is to be threatened with returning to one's own country, has been informed by his wife, Gene Tierney, that she doesn't want their son to grow up in a world where everyone is afraid, and sees the aforementioned officer in the death throes of despair as he drinks himself into oblivion.

It's a powerful triple shot that convinces Andrews, playing a real- life member of the Russian Embassy staff, that his future lies with the free people of Canada.

The Iron Curtain is a spy thriller and an espionage thriller. Since spy and espionage are the same thing, the difference, the two-sidedness of the movie comes in the dual stories. We see the workings of the apparatchiks in the embassy (I loved the character actor, a man I grew up watching on TV in many roles, who runs the secret-decoder ring operations of the embassy--he has to drown out the sound of conversation with Soviet-approved music, and he HATES music!), but the movie takes great pains to show the subversives working for the Soviets in the Canadian government. It's a feverish, nauseating sight when the tentacles of the Communist octopus reach out, farther and farther, to further the Soviet's version of Marxist-Leninism. On a propaganda level, the baddies all look like pedophiles--humorless, colorless masses of skin you'd never suspect as traitors and subversives.

I greatly appreciated The Iron Curtain for its painstaking approach to reminding us that free speech and free assembly, that freedom itself breeds optimism. The average folks who come in contact with the Soviets and their sympathizers are a cheerful lot. Early in the movie, Andrews goes out dancing with Embassy Secretary and Bitch-Goddess, June Havoc (about as scary a beauty as Charlize Theron in one of those weird perfume commercials she does). You notice very quickly the folks in the night club are happy and relaxed. They know a war is on, but they aren't going to relent to the doom and gloom because their optimism won't allow it. Being a small-d democrat is antithetical to dreary, authoritarian pessimism.

The atmosphere in the dance hall is a heady elixir, and Havoc takes Andrews there to see how he reacts to the evil hedonism of foolish capitalists. She wants to see if Andrews is prone to being a blabbermouth. He confronts her with his knowledge of what she's up to, and he compares her beauty with that of his wife (Tierney), and it's not a nice comparison for Havoc.

When VJ Day is declared, Andrews and his wife listen to a radio broadcast from San Francisco wherein the announcer speaks of the allied soldiers who aren't going to have to fight their way onto the beaches of Japan, that theirs is a celebration of salvation. The announcer's voice almost cracks with emotion about blessed peace.

Democracy isn't always cheerful (sometimes hard decisions have to be made), but the thought that individuals hold the power to govern themselves, that an informed public is made up of informed individuals is a thing to put a smile on the viewer's face.

As the story unfolds, we begin to suspend our disbelief in what we are seeing, and not because the movie is introduced with a voice-over declaring the authenticity of the story. When Andrews finally decides to defect, to deliver stolen documentation of Soviet perfidy to the Canadian authorities, he's rebuffed repeatedly. Canadian apparatchiks, both in government and in the press think he's a nut, so the menace of execution for him and his wife and the guaranteed reprisals against family members at home is palpably real. Andrews takes his family back to their apartment (Was the real Igor Gouzenko that stupid?) where he is confronted by three members of the Russian thugocracy, and it's only when a pair of perplexed Ottawa constables arrive to find out what all the fuss and bother's about that the viewer stops holding the remote way too tightly.

Finally, if you know what "Program Music" is, then you will see it put to great use in The Iron Curtain. I think four Russian composers had their work used in the movie; Shostakovich is the one I recognized, and he was a master of what we would simply recognize as "movie music," background music designed to heighten emotion. Here, the composers' works are used to add both suspense and to be a plot device. Remember the room I mentioned with the guy who hates music? Shostakovich is blaring in the background, to the point where the viewer wants to yell, "Turn that stuff down, will ya!" It's jarring and unnerving and utterly effective.

The same way the movie is in reminding us why totalitarianism is designed to crush souls and democracy is designed to elevate them.

I would strongly recommend taking some time to see The Iron Curtain and The 49th Parallel, two great propaganda pieces that remind us why democracy is a good and noble thing.

Engrossing Cold-War Propaganda

[richardchatten · 9/10 · 5 January 2019]

The overt Cold War propaganda that came out of Hollywood and the Soviet Union tends to be treated with an embarrassed silence these days, but this documentary-style drama by veteran William Wellman shot in vivid black & white in Ottawa with pounding musical accompaniment by Shostakovich and others probably looks much better now than it did at the time.

Interesting true story-based docu noir of spy come good in Canada

[adrianovasconcelos · 8/10 · 12 November 2022]

Director William Wellman did many fine films, but not many very memorable ones. THE IRON CURTAIN is one of his better ones, thanks to a large extent to the re-teaming of Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney (previously together in the masterpiece, LAURA, 1944) surely one of the most handsome couples ever to grace the screen.

Igor (Andrews) is a cypher specialist with the Russian Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, and the film shows how his wife and then he become aware of the better life in Canada. The concept of nuclear deterrence is cleverly examined, too.

Andrews dominates the film with his square jaw honesty, photography is exquisite - Ottawa looked truly beautiful in the 1940s, and still does today - and the script keeps you riveted.

Of course, the Canadian justice ministry comes in for some stick for not immediately attending to Igor's defection, but in the end all pans out quite well, and you are left wondering what happened to Igor's family back in the USSR...

The first cinematic revelation of the anatomy of communist dictatorship

[clanciai · 10/10 · 10 April 2022]

This is one of the best espionage thrillers ever made, because it is all true. Wellman's ambition with this film must have been to make it as documentary as possible in truthfulness, accentuating the genuineness by only using music of Soviet composers, which strengthens the terror and horrible tension of the conditions of this story. Wellman did some of the best war films ever made, he was himself in the First World War, so he knew something about that reality, and his realism is 100%. Gouzenko (Dana Andrews) is a very correct and strict Soviet official sent to work at the Soviet embassy of Canada in Ottawa, and the entire film is shot on location. Gene Tierney plays his wife most admirably, being the one person who gives vent to her humanity, and without that wife Gouzenko's defection would not have succeeded. He and his family lived under governmental protection for the rest of their lives, and when he gradually agreed to appear on television he insisted on never showing himself in public without a mask. He lived to write two novels, one about his defection which provided the story of this film, and later "The Fall of a Titan" where he tried to expose the murder of Maxim Gorkiy by the Stalin authorities. The film like his novels exposes the mentality of authoritarian fear which was the dominating trait of Russian communism as long as it was in power, and which still shows up its monstrous paranoid mentality in the politics of Vladimir Putin - the problem is actual still today.